By Karen Lema and David Lague
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines is confident in the continuity of U.S. policies in the Asia-Pacific region after the U.S. presidential election, its defence chief said, underlining that Philippine-U.S. ties would remain strong regardless of the outcome.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the alliance between the two countries is anchored in shared security goals and a commitment to uphold international law, including in the contested waters of the South China Sea.
“Our support for initiatives, bilaterally and multilaterally…is bipartisan, aside from the fact that we are operating together on institutional grounds, on foundational grounds,” Teodoro said in an interview.
Teodoro said China’s “misbehaviour” in the South China Sea has placed the Philippines at the forefront of regional security concerns, sparking a global response.
“Simply put, China has given the Philippines some prominence that in normal terms, if everybody followed the rules of the road, if they didn’t do bad things, then this prominence of the Philippines would not be there,” Teodoro said. “So, it’s all China’s fault right now because there is a felt need to band together because of their misbehaviour that this is happening.”
China’s defence and foreign ministries and the U.S. Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Teodoro’s remarks.
The U.S. presidential election will take place on Nov. 5, with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump locked in a close race.
Tensions are high in the South China Sea, where China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the waterway, challenging Southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, and recently Vietnam and Indonesia.
Last week, Indonesia expelled a Chinese coast guard vessel from its waters after it interfered with an energy survey, while Vietnam this month accused Chinese authorities of assaulting its fishermen in disputed waters.
“There is a pronounced aggressiveness of China’s expansionist agenda here,” Teodoro said, linking it to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s efforts to legitimise his leadership.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis, siding with the Philippines which brought the case.
But China has rejected the ruling, leading to a series of sea and air confrontations as the Philippines has ramped up patrols and resupply missions to defend its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) from Beijing’s encroachments.
TREATY-BOUND
These incidents have raised risks of an escalation that could eventually involve the United States, which is treaty-bound to defend the Philippines if it is attacked.
“The probability of friction or conflict in the West Philippine Sea, it’s there. I cannot deny that,” Teodoro said, using the term Manila uses to refer to waters within its EEZ.
China has maintained that its actions in the South China Sea have been lawful and professional.
While the U.S. last year laid out in clear terms the extent of its defence treaty commitments to the Philippines in case of an armed attack in the South China Sea, Teodoro said the cooperation goes beyond that and encompasses stability, rule of law and joint capability building.
“What we are doing now with the United States is to build up our combined capabilities to deter such an armed attack from occurring,” he said.
The Philippines has also strengthened ties with allies like Japan and Australia, conducting joint exercises aimed at operational readiness, moves China views as provocative.
Teodoro, now in his second term as defence chief, is overseeing an ambitious military expansion with what he said was a “doable” wish list that include air defence assets, fighter jets, frigates and corvettes, to fortify the country’s strategic shift away from internal to external defence.
“My conviction has not changed, that there is something that we need to deter, and the only thing that will change that equation is if China changes,” Teodoro said.
The Philippines has received offers for 40 multi-role fighter jets but has yet to finalise a supplier.
“There are no shortlists at this time,” Teodoro said. “We will deal with countries strategically aligned with us, particularly in the West Philippine Sea. Those countries that have no alignment with us are at the bottom of the list.”
To support these acquisitions, Teodoro said he was exploring unconventional financing options and pushing to relax foreign and local borrowing limits.
“The appetite for investing in national defence is there, and right now there is liquidity in the system that we should and need to tap,” he said.
(Reporting by Karen Lema and David Lague; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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